Is Portugal Racist and How Does it Compare to Other Countries?

Here is a very non-scientific chart I put together on the racism I have felt in various countries that I have traveled to:

Bing also has a cool feature to see a heat map for racism in different countries:

Here are the minorities on TV:

Notice a trend? The countries that are most racist have almost no minorities on their screens. É como se não houvesse diversidade na China, na Rússia, Colombia, e no Brasil.

But we have outliers like the USA (that’s where I am from). Há uma abundância de minorias na televisão, but it is quite a racist place (especially in the middle of the country).

Portugal é bastante diferente. I had a friend here tell me that “God created black people, Deus criou as pessoas brancas, and the Portuguese created mulattos”. This is where we’ll start to set the scene.

In the 90’s there was a flow of migrants from Eastern Europe: Russia, Bulgária, Romênia, e Moldovia.

As of the 2000’s the main influx has been from Brazil and China (the later due to the Golden Visa program).

No passado 5 years, the immigration is coming in from France (the French are currently the number one group purchasing real estate in Portugal), o Reino Unido, e Alemanha, com alguns expatriados dos EUA.

For my own experience I haven’t had anything close to the racism you would see in US or China. Yes I have had a security guard in El Corte Ingles go out of his way to follow me through the store. But after he saw me a few times he would just say “ola” and nod. Yes I have been mistaken for someone else because of the color of my skin (they honestly thought I was someone else who really didn’t look anything like me except he was brown skinned).

This was great information. However I would like to know your opinion/ info on how Portugal is with the Gay community and Homosexuality in general. My sister and her wife are looking to relocate soon to retire, and Portugal was one country they are really interested in. Does Portugal recognize same-sex marriages? How tolerant is it there?

Also would like to know if you are of Latin descent and speak Spanish fluently, will you be able to get by without knowing Portuguese?

I haven’t been able to find any info like this for her so anything you might have to share would be really appreciated.

Hi Rosa. Not sure about the rest of the country, but Lisbon seems to be pretty ok with the Gay community. Same-sex marriage is legal in Portugal and has been since 2010. I’m sure there are a few people here and there who aren’t forward thinking, but overall Alfacinhos are really lovely people. I’m a native Spanish speaker and I think that makes it harder for me to understand the language. Portuguese people have no trouble understanding Spanish speakers, but the reverse is not true. There are so many more sounds in Portuguese and tons of false friends. I’ve been taking classes twice a week with a great teacher – his name is Nuno – and this has helped tremendously (his Facebook page in case you want it – https://www.facebook.com/Nuno-Pereira-Portuguese-and-English-as-a-Foreign-Language-1335425123239850/). That being said, at least in Lisbon, most people under 40 speak English so getting around is not an issue even if you don’t speak the language. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

I see lots of same sex couples around town. There is a gay community around Principe Real. Same sex married couples are recognized by the country since 2010 so shouldn’t be issue for her. One thing though some Portugese are pretty conservative. So they may get a few stare especially if they kiss in public outside the major cities. But honestly they shouldn’t have a problem 99% of the time.

As for the language I am a spanish speaker so it is easier to learn portuguese then if your a non-latin speaker. One thing that has been giving me problems language wise is Portuguese from Portgual sounds kind of Russian to me. So it take a while for your “ear” to hear is properly. Brazilian Portuguese is way easier.

You’re going to love Portugal. I came here (I think 5 times) before finally deciding to become an expat in Lisbon. It’s a wonderful place to live and visit. If you need any tips for your Portugal trip, just let me know.

It’s so interesting to see how attitudes towards different races, colors, and religions show up in different cities and countries. Some are hardly affected by race, others are subtle, and others are so blunt. I’m thrilled that Lisbon is not in the two later ones. People here are super nice.

It’s hard to let go of old habits, especially when they are embedded in our cultures. My grandma was somewhat racist (a sweet lady – but still racist). When you are raised with parents and grandparents (and a general population) that act this way, it takes thought to get out of those bad patterns.

There are a lot of studies out there. One of our charts is completely un-scientific and just based on personal experience – so it doesn’t represent the real population, just what we have noticed. There are studies and polls out there, but I am always wary – a study of 1,000 people is not enough to give accurate info.

It’s always interesting to me. I am light skinned. Antonio who wrote this piece is Latino with darker skin. I definitely noticed the subtleties once we started dating and I’d see the differences in reactions when I was by myself or with him. I am hopeful that things will change for the better all over the world – and I think that Portugal is setting an excellent example.

It absolutely is. I travel tons and I have to say that Portugal (at least from what I have seen so far) is quite progressive. It is not perfect, no country is…but they are headed in the right direction.

You start to see the differences as you travel. Political and economic climate usually affect how people feel about those who are different from them. It is nice to be able to go to a country where the climate seems to be in a positive upturn 🙂

It is interesting to know that level of racist issues in different countries. Even here in the Philippines, racism also arise and starts at home. Like you can here Mothers teasing their kids about their skin color, etc., yeah they don’t mean it truly (i guess) but most of them don’t know it has a huge impact to kids, until they grow up.

Você está tão certo. Words matter, and even when they aren’t meant to be malicious, they stay in the subconscious where they can affect who children grow up to be. None of us is perfect, but we can all strive to be better people.

This is an interesting post on racism. The charts are indeed something I didn’t expect but is good to know for those traveling. I find it interesting that the majority of people in Portugal are not racist when they did most of the slave trading. Thanks for sharing the information.

This is an interesting post lots of good information. It is sad that their is still racism in the world. It is important that we take peoples feelings into consideration and treat others the way we would like to be treated.

Very interesting article, we have been to Portugal a number of times and are planning to move to Lisbon in a few months. In our last trip, Sept 2017, we had extensive conversations with people about racism. As a mixed race couple, it’s important to us. What we heard was very positive, at least for Portugal. In one conversation, two men (one Angolan, one Portuguese) were completely shocked when we explained DWB. It’s good to see that there is somewhere life can be a little more relaxed because of less racism.

Yeah you shouldn’t have issues. It’s very common to see mixed race couple here. Remember that Portugal had an empire that spans from Angola, Brazil, Índia, Cape Verde and Macau. Most people will thing you guys are from one of those countries. I get Cape Verde a lot or Brazilian.